An exploration of the co-production of performance running bodies and natures within "Running Taskscapes"

This article explores the interrelationship between particular “natural” spaces and the production of middle- and long-distance performance running bodies. It argues that running bodies and nature are actively co-produced, thus blurring the commonly made distinction between the “social” and the “natural”. In doing so, the article extends the geography of sports literature by adopting a “post-constructivist” perspective on nature as elucidated in Tim Ingold's concepts of “dwelling” and “taskscape”. This illuminates the (re)production of sporting bodies through the materiality of nature and in turn contributes to research on embodiment within sports studies that highlights the importance of space and the natural environment. The article draws on ethnographic material and textual sources to illuminate the running taskscape associated with the production of performance running bodies and highlights how three forms and functions of nature are co-produced through this mode of dwelling.